The Journey Together expansion set literally a stone's throw away from hitting store shelves, and the Pokémon Company International (TPCi) is already looking to the future. Destined Rivals has been officially announced as the latest expansion for the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Coming this May 30th, Destined Rivals will add over 240 cards to the existing legal pool for the Pokémon TCG.
What’s in the Box?
According to the official announcement from TPCi, Destined Rivals is confirmed to include cards from two Japanese expansions. These expansions are Glory of Team Rocket and Hot Wind Arena since the listing mentions Cynthia, Ethan, Arven, and Team Rocket itself.
Thanks to Information gleaned from other promotional advertising, it appears that Team Rocket will have access to a Tyranitar line and a Mimikyu.
Special Blister packs will also be available as part of the Destined Rivals expansion. These packs will feature a Fidough coin-flip die for the 1-pack blister sets, alongside promotional cards. From what we can see, Eevee, Zarude, a full lines of Skeledirge and Togekiss are available as promos.
While not yet shown in its product preview, the Elite Trainer Box for Destined Rivals will come with a couple of full-art foil promotional cards featuring Team Rocket’s Wobbuffet.
Glory of Team Rocket Continues Annual Reveals
On the other side of the release tunnel, the Glory of Team Rocket continues with its annual reveals as they showcase a new Team Rocket pokémon in the form of their Ampharos line.
Team Rocket’s Mareep showcases a very useful ability of searching out any item card from the controlling player’s deck and adding it to the hand. This ability, however, is tacked on to a rather questionable 60 health body.
The evolved form, Team Rocket’s Flaafy, may be considered a downgrade to the Mareep as it loses its search function. While you do gain a little bit more health and a stronger attack with a chance to paralyze, the utility is definitely lacking.
At the end of the evolution chain is Team Rocket’s Ampharos. While not exactly the most physically impressive from Team Rocket’s current lineup, it does offer some indirect and -more importantly- free damage to any opposing pokémon that is evolved during the course of the match.
The damage output may look a little small, given the limited scope of its activation trigger, but it's actually surprisingly valuable. Since Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex has an attack that can shoot from anywhere between 160 to 280 damage, depending on conditions, Ampharos’ extra 40 damage may be the difference between being in a critical state to actually being knocked out.
The Irony Is Not Lost
Unfortunately between the official reveals and announcements, the celebration is once again dampened by the actions of scalpers. Once the Pokémon Center had opened its doors for pre-orders for Destined Rivals products, they immediately were sold out, much to the chagrin of a lot of fans.
If you were to look at second-hand market sites like eBay, Destined Rival products are already being sold at an inflated price. For a bit of context, the coveted Elite Trainer Box for Destined Rivals is being sold at a $59.99 price tag at the Pokémon Center (shipping fees are not shown).
Sellers over at eBay, however, are asking from between $60-90 as a starting baseline to upwards of $400. Some sellers were even brazen enough to post pictures of their online receipt from the Pokémon Center or other retail outlets as proof of the authenticity of the product they are selling.
There’s a little bit of irony here, as Team Rocket in the Pokémon series is known for being in organized crime. While not to the same degree, the effects of scalpers on the TCG market are on full display and can be viewed as just as bad to some fans.